Portable lights & electrical safety/PAT

Typical BC lampholders have a rear that can be unscrewed without a tool - I thought that was a PAT test fail. They also have cordgrips that are questi onable PATwise. They also usually have no maximum wattage marking. So is a portable light using one a PAT fail due to these points?

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr
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That only normally applies to the flex mounted batten holders that you see dangling from ceilings. Those are not portable appliances.

See above

Most portable lights don't use that type of fitting, for those same reasons.

Reply to
John Rumm

If you mean an inspection lamp type of thing which is using a pendant lampholder, yes I would fail that.

If you mean a table lamp type of thing, they aren't usually used in workplaces - an exception would be hotels and bars for decorative effect and most of those are going over to low-energy lamps and they tend to have different fittings.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

Which reminds me of a story I've told before, regarding 500 MW alternators.

At Eggborough you climb into the spaces normally occupied by the vertical cooling water coils, and that isn't too bad. You then worm your way between bulkheads to get where you need to be. The hand lamp I had been given was just a mains fitting with reflector, so there I was, making my way around the stator end-windings and cooling water tubes, when there was a fizz and the light went out. There I was, in intimate contact with lots of earthed metal, not sure if I was about to be fried. Luckily, the problem was intermittent, and I lived to tell the tale (literally, obviously).

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Cheers. Failed they are then.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Must be a very old design if it uses a pendant type bulbholder in a portable light. Apart from anything else, the plastic sort are too fragile.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You missed that you can stick your fingers in to live parts without unscrewing anything.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Anglepoise?

Reply to
charles

I've got a couple here that are pretty ancient. The lamp unit is a custom made moulding (with a rocker switch) inside which may be a fairly standard bulbholder. But not one you can access without dismantling, other than to change the bulb.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You might want to consider whether the item needs PATS rather than inspection. The following is HSEs take on the matter:

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Reply to
Robert

Does that make BC safer than ES:-)?

Reply to
ARW

With some (all?) any made in recent decades, you at least have to make a bit of an effort. So as to prevent people taking the blown lamp out in the dark and then accidentally getting a shock when their finger strays into the lampholder while trying to put the new one in, the pins aren't electrified unless they are pressed down.

Reply to
Steve Walker

Oddly that's still accepted.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

IIRC the 1930s Anglepoise generally passes a PAT.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

- I thought that was a PAT test fail. They also have cordgrips that are qu estionable PATwise. They also usually have no maximum wattage marking. So i s a portable light using one a PAT fail due to these points?

It does, and it's not a low risk environment.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

ISTR BC 0 deaths, ES 1 death.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

It would never be allowed in a new design today, but over 100 years with no known deaths or serious injuries make it difficult to justify any change.

It's impossible to make a good enough direct contact with a finger to pass enough current. You would need to be holding a larger metal object, and even then, it would be damn near impossible to maintain contact for more than a fraction of a second.

This is not true for ES, where there are a number of deaths (mainly in the US I believe) due to gripping the base of a lamp to unscrew it, and making a good contact with the metal screw on the lamp base, where the lampholder has been wired with the screw live and the tip neutral, and the resulting muscle contraction presumably maintins contact.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Please clarify what you mean by "portable light" and "not a low risk environment".

Apart from anything else, most lampholders have low impact resistance.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

Years ago a mate was re-wiring his own house and fitted the loop-in-rose, pendant and only when fitting the lamp ... and it came on, did he get the shock. Luckily it wasn't an electrical one and a nice lesson about making sure the power is off before doing such things.

Could the wooden step ladders have helped?

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

No need. It looks like it can be sorted out by adding a metal bar across the back that prevents unscrewsing and can be used a cordgrip.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

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